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What the #Limepocalypse means to your next cocktail

As someone who knows a bit about how agricultural commodities work and lot about how cocktails work, I’ve been following the recent ascent of lime prices, which has been causing bartenders considerable pain. If you love Margaritas, Daiquiris or or any other drink that depends on lime for its citrusy zing, you may be feeling the squeeze yourself.

What’s going on? In brief, Mexico, which produces 98% of the limes consumed in the U.S, is now seeing a shortage of limes thanks to a perfect storm of poor winter weather, plagues and threats from organized crime. As a result, we’ve seen lime prices spike from an average of $14 to $25 a case to an unprecedented $100 (or more) per case. You can read more on the backstory here or watch a video here.

If we were taking about the price of burgers, it would make sense to talk about cattle futures as a hedging mechanism. But lime futures don’t trade on U.S. commodity markets — or anywhere else in the world, that I know about. (Feel free to educate me if you know of a market where they are traded.)

In the meantime, what does the spike in lime prices mean to your next cocktail? It means one or more of the following scenarios:

Scarcity. In other words, if bartenders can’t get limes, you might not be able to get some of your favorite drinks for a while. For example, it’s been widely reported that Toby Cecchini has taken his famed Gimlet off the menu at his Long Island bar in Brooklyn (after all, the key ingredient is a housemade lime cordial).

Substitution. Your favorite drink might taste a little different for a while, as bartenders make creative substitutions. Some are switching to a mix of lemon and lime juices or grapefruit. Others are turning to acids beyond citrus, such as phosphates and lactarts. I would expect vinegar-based shrubs to follow as well. Upside: who knows what innovative cocktails this forced creativity may yield?

Inflation. You might have to pay more for your drinks. I’d especially expect to see this happen at places like large Mexican chain restaurants, where taking classics like the Margarita off the menu would cause too much outcry. Downside: once menu prices move higher, they rarely are adjusted lower when ingredient prices moderate.

Degradation. Aka crappier drinks. Keep an eye out for sour mix, prefab lime cordial and frozen lime juice as substitutions for fresh lime. And that lime wedge garnish on on the side of your glass? Say goodbye to that too, for a while.

Finally, some bartenders will simply eat the rising cost. Martin Cate announced last week that his San Francisco tiki bar Treasure Island will NOT make any changes to the menu, and will NOT raise prices. Since tiki/tropical drinks use a lot of limes, this is big deal.

[Shameless plug: if you find this explanation interesting and will be in the NY area on Wednesday, 4/2, I’ll be reading from The Secret Financial Life of Food (and talking a bit about the “limepocalypse”) at DISH, a food and beverage-themed literary event at Housing Works in Soho.]

4 thoughts on “What the #Limepocalypse means to your next cocktail”

aw..limes are very essential in cocktail mixing. it’s sad to know that there’s a possibility that we have to use tasteless alternatives to limes in the near future that will surely affect the cocktail’s flavor, big time!

If it makes you feel any better…what I’ve seen in bars (at least, this week) is that bartenders still are using limes. One bartender last night said he’s using “mixed cases” (the limes are different sizes, which doesn’t matter if you’re juicing them or slicing them as garnishes). Another had limes in a bowl on the countertop, but noted that they were “dry and ugly.”

Great post about a cocktail tragedy. This makes you rethink having a greenhouse with your own lime trees. Seriously, this points out our vulnerability on still another front. Think about cocoa, bananas, …